Before the internet.Way before :)

[JRH6856]

Wow, didn't know anything about Houston until 2004,

You missed all the fun.

 

[RandyC]

For me, one of the positives of the internet is realizing there are still folks who have language skills. And, oddly, it seems they are more prevalent on gun boards than most other forums.

We do seem to be a polite society. Lots of knowledge that simply wasn't available to me as a kid.

I learned gun safety and hunting skills from my dad and brother. And growing up, my heroes were cowboys or soldiers.

Regarding knowledge of various firearms and loading, I've gotten far more reliable info from the internet than any gun shop.

Still, I kinda miss Hoppy and the good old days.

 

[HOWARD J]

Before the internet & TV we got exercise--we had to learn things ourselves.
When TV came along we lost part of our exercise. We got to see what all those adv.
looked like. Now we get adv. 30 minutes of every hour.--Oh joy.
I am glad we have the internet---I don't have to learn by myself anymore.
I'm too friggin old for exercise so the internet is great (grate)
have fun

 

[x_wrench]

yep, we used to look thru the Sears catalog, Montgomery Wards too. my uncle always had the newest shooters bible around. so every trip out to his place was a treat in itself. we also shot at his place a lot. he had 80 acres out in the deep country, and there were two adjoining properties that he and they agreed on "sharing". we had full access to all of it. total of about 160 acres. my cousin and i killed a ton of squirrels and rabbits out there. deer hunting was a different deal. in their agreement, they set it up strictly for immediate family. so we were out. the township made a deal with him to run a dump on his property also. so there was plenty to shoot at. i bet we "killed 10,000 glass jars and bottles there. as far as learning about guns, that was strictly dad. and most of it was how to, when to and not to shoot, and a good cleaning afterwards. i would have loved to learn about reloading from my uncle. but it never happened. just never enough time, and by the time i was old enough to drive out there myself, girls were a lot more interesting, go figure . we used to talk guns a lot, IN SCHOOL! we could actually bring in live rounds of ammo, and no one ever got killed. hurt, or even scared for that matter. it was a bigger deal to get caught with a pocket knife, than a piece of ammunition. hmmmm, there was actually some weird thing back then, called COMMON SENSE! :banghead: we have come a long way in the last 40 years. not all of it good. somethings need to go backwards.

 

[gym]

If you take it a step farther, we had much less psycotic behavior pre-net. Now a cookoo, can just sit at home and talk to other nut jobs, and find out all kinds of specialised information, and where and how to make some pretty nasty stuff. The "lone wolf" scenario is promoted by these people staying out of view, and not having to interact with anyome other than the Pizza dlivery guy and UPS. They all eat Pizza, lol, at least in all the movies they do, I think a pizza delivery outfit is standard field kit issue now for the feds.

 

[RainDodger]

Before the internet... I remember dressing up as an army infantry officer (my dad's old helmet liner with a major's leaf on it) in elementary school. Although I didn't carry an actual .45 in the flap holster, I did figure I needed something in there, so I put my Benjamin .22 cal pump pellet pistol in there. They did call my dad, but they merely handed the pistol over to him and said it probably shouldn't be at school...

 

[pinstripe]

I remember walking to the nearest town that was 3 or so miles away and going to the local family owned store. it smelled of onions and cigarettes. There me and my brother would buy some .22 long rifle cartridges for 1 cent each. We would have enough coke bottles and change to buy 25 or so rounds and a coke to split. On the way back home we would hunt squirrels and such. Got to be good shots. If there were any bullets left we would shot them at the trash dump that was off the road a piece. Killed many old jars and cans. That was over 30 years ago. My how time flies when you grow up.

 

[RainDodger]

I also remember scrounging up something like $7 for a brick of .22LR for a good solid afternoon of shooting... and that was when I was in college. When I was younger, my dad had a nice stock of "Kleenbore" .22 shells... some of which I still have from the 1960s.

Most of all though, I remember the smell of Hoppe's #9, and cleaning guns with my dad and grandfather on the porch. If they were only here to see the changes... but then again, they probably would like most of them!

 

[Coyote3855]

In junior high school, eastern Colorado, 1956. The science teacher sponsored a "Conservation Club." With a note from my folks, I could check out a .22 rifle, buy standard velocity .22 shells for $.50 a box. Just couldn't take the rifle home on the school bus.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Well I grew up around old men that carried 25 autos 32 auto or revolvers and a few carried 38 S&W or spl . No one ever seemed to think they were unarmed be cause didn't start with a 4. In my family my father and his brothers perfered 38spl.
Oc course we neve heard of 300lb druggie either or ever saw one . I still don't think I have ever saw a 300lb crazy druggie . I have seen a few crazy skinny ones over the years.

 

[btg3]

Just couldn't take the rifle home on the school bus.

Reminds me of posts by other who took their rifles to school on the bus so they could deer hunt after school. Rifles were kept in the principal's office during school hours and picked up when school let out. This was in Maine some 40-50 years ago as I recall from reading those posts.